Performance of Samsung and Apple Flagship Smartphones: 43.5 Million Active iPhone X Devices in May 2018

According to our Global Smartphone and Tablet Tracker, over half of the 3.2 billion smartphones that were used globally in May were made either by Samsung or Apple, with the tech giants boasting market shares of 27.2% and 23.8%, respectively. On a device level, Apple is more popular than Samsung: May’s top five most used smartphones were made by the American company.

Our data for May 2018 shows that the iPhone 7 finally put an end to the iPhone 6’s impressive run as the most actively used smartphone in the world, knocking it down to the #2 spot. All in all, there were 118.7 million iPhone 7s and 118.5 million iPhone 6s active in the market in May. The iPhone 7 family now makes up 26.3% of all active Apple smartphones on the market. The iPhone 6S was the third-most used model globally, followed by the iPhone 7 Plus. Samsung’s most popular smartphone model was the Galaxy S8, with 56.3 million active devices, making it the #6 globally.

As both Apple and Samsung released their new flagship smartphones in the last nine months, we decided to take a deep dive into our data to learn how the devices have been performing so far.

“The iPhone 7 family now makes up 26.3% of all active Apple smartphones on the market.”

The iPhone X made up 5.7% of All Active Apple Smartphones in May

The latest flagship smartphone from Apple, the iPhone X, was released on November 3, 2017. The device added a variety of new features for iPhone users, including an OLED screen, Face ID facial recognition, wireless-charging support, and an upgraded dual camera. After a successful launch period, the iPhone X already had 43.5 million active devices in May, 5.7% of the 766 million iPhones that were used. In comparison, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus made up 15% of all active iPhones in the same period last year (May 2017).

Still, it’s worth noting that consumers had more choice this time around, as the iPhone 8 was released on 22 September, less than two months before the iPhone X’s launch. On that note, the iPhone 8 family is performing better than the iPhone X; 30.2 million iPhone 8s and 32.7 million iPhone 8 Plus devices were active in the market in May — further highlighting consumer’s growing preference for larger screens.

The market with the highest number of iPhone X smartphones in May was China, which accounted for 28% of them ahead of the U.S. with 22.3%.

S9 Family Totaled 1.4% of Active Samsung Smartphones in May

Samsung’s latest flagship device is the Galaxy S9, which was launched on March 11, 2018, alongside the larger and more powerful Galaxy S9+. Compared to Samsung’s previous flagships, the S9 family features a higher-quality camera and a better-positioned fingerprint sensor. Interestingly, the S9+ was more popular than the S9 in May 2018, with 7.4 million active devices vs. the standard model’s 5.2 million — yet another recent example of smartphones with larger screens performing better than their smaller-screened counterparts.

After around two-and-a-half months on the market, the S9 family’s grand total of active devices was 12.6 million — 1.4% of all active Samsung smartphones in May. This uptake is slower than the S8, the company’s last flagship smartphone, which made up 1.8% of all active smartphones back in May 2017. The decrease may be down to the S9 family’s smaller, incremental improvements over the S8 family.

By far, the S9 family performed best in the U.S., which is home to 22.9% of the world’s active S9 and S9+ devices. The market with the second-most smartphones in the S9 family was Korea, with 9.3% of all active devices. The #3 spot was taken by India with 6.3%.

Are Developing Markets Key for the Future?

As mentioned, although the top five most actively used smartphones were Apple products, Samsung was more popular from a brand perspective, with a market share of 27.2% vs. Apple’s 23.8%. This is mainly due to Samsung’s larger selection of budget devices, such as the Galaxy J7 — the world’s #7 most actively used smartphone (52.3 million devices).

These lower-budget Samsung smartphones perform particularly well in developing markets such as Pakistan and India, where the Galaxy J7 was May’s #1 and #3 most used smartphone, respectively. If Apple truly wants to dethrone Samsung as the world’s most popular smartphone brand, it is important for the company to increase its focus on developing markets.

For consumers with a lower budget, and particularly relevant for developing markets, Apple currently offers the iPhone SE. In May 2018, there were 34.9 million iPhone SEs on the market, making it the #15 most actively used smartphone. All signs point to the company discounting the SE this year, replacing it with a brand-new lower-budget device.

Also, Apple has made a move to significantly improve the performance of its older-generation devices. As seen in June’s WWDC keynote, iOS 12 will not only improve the app-and-camera speed of newer Apple devices, but also its older devices. Going forward, it remains unclear whether this will have any major impact on the popularity of older-generation iPhones in developing markets.

The original article can be found here.